Rationally designed self assembled peptide scaffolds for tissue regeneration

分子自组装在自然界中非常常见，最近进入了实验室，成为材料科学和工程中的一种新方法。通过自组装制成的材料是由简单的分子积木组成的，这些积木被用来建造更大的结构，类似于乐高积木，可以用来建造更大的物体。由于构建块可以以许多不同的方式组合在一起，因此可以有广泛的属性和应用。该项目寻求开发基于天然材料的构建块的新的自组装材料：称为氨基酸的蛋白质构建块。人体内有20种氨基酸，组成成千上万种蛋白质。在自然界中，这些积木往往会自我组装成宏观结构。形成的一种重要结构是水凝胶。这是一种凝胶状物质，水分含量很高，类似于体内的许多组织。由于组合20个构件的可能方式非常多，因此很难决定哪种氨基酸组合是最好的。我们计划使用受自然进化启发的新的系统方法来研究它们。我们的目标是使用新的进化技术来设计具有有用特性的水凝胶，用于生长细胞以愈合患者的伤口。我们感兴趣的细胞是那些制造软骨的细胞，软骨位于骨骼的末端，起到润滑剂和减震器的作用。许多人患有疾病，导致软骨的质量和数量下降，所以我们想要开发新的材料来修复软骨。生长细胞的理想水凝胶含有许多孔洞，并具有纤维结构。特殊的显微镜将被用来让我们以非常高的倍率观察凝胶的结构，以寻找合适大小的孔和纤维。我们还需要确定凝胶的机械性能，即凝胶的强度。

Molecular self-assembly is very common in nature and has recently found its way into the laboratory where it emerged as a new approach in materials science and engineering. Materials that are made by self-assembly are made of simple molecular building blocks that are used to build much larger structures similar to Lego blocks that can be used to build larger objects. Due to the many different ways in which building blocks can be combined a wide range of properties and applications are possible. This project seeks to develop new self assembled materials based on the building blocks of natural materials: the building blocks of proteins known as amino acids. There are 20 amino acids which make up tens of thousands of proteins in the body. In nature these building blocks tend to self assemble into macroscopic structures. One important type of structure that is formed are the hydrogels. These are gel-like materials which have a high water content, similar to many tissues in the body. Because of the very large number of possible ways to combine 20 building blocks, it is difficult to decide what combinations of amino acids are best. We plan to investigate them using new systematic approaches that are inspired by natural evolution.We aim to use new evolutionary techniques to design hydrogels with useful properties for growing cells to heal wounds in patients. The cells we are interested in are the ones that make cartilage which is found at the ends of bones and acts as a lubricant and a shock absorber. Many people suffer from diseases which cause a decrease in the quality and amount of cartilage so we want to develop new materials that can repair cartilage. Ideal hydrogels for growing cells contain lots of holes and have fibrous structures. Special microscopes will be used to allow us to look at the structure of the gels at very high magnification to look for holes and fibres of the right size. We will also need to determine the gels' mechanical properties i.e. how strong the gels are.